op verzoek van het lid Schmit (D66) NL00134-Amsterdam-Renew-Your-View-Ad-Test-Topline-Report

Opinium

Amsterdam “Renew Your View” Ad Test

Key Findings NL00134 8 May 2024

OPINIUM BV Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 162 1012 SJ, Amsterdam europe@opinium.com www.opinium.com

Summary •

Amsterdam has launched the "Renew Your View" advertising campaign to combat overtourism and negative visitor behavior, in particular among young UK males.

Key Findings • • •

Low awareness of "Renew Your View" among young UK males (less than 20% have seen it). Advert is well-liked but doesn't change perceptions of Amsterdam or deter visitation overall. However, it does reduce interest in visiting for stag parties. Young UK males have a more nuanced view of Amsterdam than the municipality may expect they recognise its culture, history and diversity as well as its less-preferred party reputation.

Considerations • • • • •

Since the target market already hold the targeted positive attributes, the creative task is to boost those opinions, whilst altering the negative ones. So far, it has achieved neither of those tasks. Does the campaign just need more time in-market to be more effective? Is further investment in this creative beneficial to the city’s rebranding mission? Is a stronger, more impactful creative execution (or executions) needed? Is there a supported link between the perception change being targeted and the desired behaviour change? Does the city need to take a more head-on against negative behaviours?

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OPINIUM BV Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 162 1012 SJ, Amsterdam europe@opinium.com www.opinium.com

Background The City of Ams terdam is on a miss ion to chang e i ts imag e and curb nuis ance touris t behavi our In the “Vision for Tourism 2035” paper, the City of Amsterdam announced its objective to shift city perceptions from “a place where anything goes” to somewhere for visitors seeking to enjoy, enrich and contribute positively. In 2023, the “Stay Away” campaign was launched, targeting at UK males aged 18 to 35 but it was not recognised as impactful. In review, the Amsterdam Mayor said “the results show that the campaign partly adjusts the image but does not yet lead to a direct decrease in the attractiveness of the city for party tourists from the UK.” To overcome this, the Amsterdam municipality launched a second phase, inviting tourists to “Review Your View” of the city. It’s objectives are to broaden the image that tourists, especially young UK males, have of Amsterdam beyond just “a place where anything goes”.

Methodology To measure the effectiveness of the Review Your View campaign, we conducted a 5-minute survey with 4000 UK adults using the Opinium UK panel. We employed a split-sample approach, dividing participants into two nationally representative groups of 2000 (based on age, gender, and region). One group (the advert group) was shown the advert and asked about their familiarity and opinions. They were then surveyed on their perceptions of Amsterdam and interest in visiting. The other group (the control group) was not shown the advert and was directly asked about their Amsterdam perceptions and travel intentions. This provided a baseline for comparison.

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OPINIUM BV Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 162 1012 SJ, Amsterdam europe@opinium.com www.opinium.com

Main Report Before we dive into performance of the ad, it is important to know that baseline perceptions of Amsterdam are broader than just being “a place where anything goes” Young UK males did associate the city with being a place for party-goers (73%) and "a place where anything goes" (63%), supporting that there is work to be done to change these negative views. However, young UK males have a more nuanced view of Amsterdam than simple stereotypes might suggest. They also commonly see it as: •

Diverse (70%)

•

A place where people can be authentic (74%)

•

A destination for art, history, and culture enthusiasts (69%)

This suggests the city can build upon these existing positive perceptions as part its rebranding efforts, rather than establish them from a low level. Interestingly, the target audience also considers Amsterdam to be welcoming of tourists (71%) which suggests that the direct messaging of the previous “Stay Away” campaign has not left a negative impact on the target market.

Baseline Perceptions of Amsterdam UK Males 18 to 35 - Strongly or Somewhat Agree Is a city where people can be their authentic self

74%

Is a city for party-goers

73%

Is welcoming of tourists

71%

Is a diverse city

70%

Is a city for art, history and culture enthusiasts

69%

Is a city where “anything goes”

63%

Is a city for those with an innovative mindset

63%

Is a city for respectful tourists

63%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

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OPINIUM BV Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 162 1012 SJ, Amsterdam europe@opinium.com www.opinium.com

Campaign performance: not many young UK males have seen the “Renew Your View” advert At the time of fieldwork in early March 2024, just 17% of the young UK males had seen the advert. Positively, the advert was more commonly seen by the target market than the general UK population (8%), suggesting strong media targeting. To bring its impact-potential to fruition, the City of Amsterdam will need to invest in generating more reach of the campaign. However, given the limited impact on overall city perceptions and visitation intent, is further investment in this creative warranted or should a creative with more impact be edited or produced?

Creative effectiveness: In testing, the ad is well-liked and delivers a clear message about inclusivity and diversity… Young UK males shown the advert considered to be appealing (78% strongly agreed or agreed) and memorable (62%). Verbatim responses reveal that the “Renew Your View” advert successfully lands its message that Amsterdam is an inclusive and diverse city where people can express themselves freely. It was also considered to be a welcoming invitation to visit Amsterdam. For example, •

“Amsterdam is a cool place to visit, open-minded, full of opportunities”

•

“Be yourself travelling to Amsterdam and enjoy the culture”

•

“Come and visit Amsterdam, no matter who you are, you'll find your niche and fit in”

•

“Amsterdam may be small but its full of diverse people, culture and ideas”

…but does not change perceptions of the city The advert does not shift overall city perceptions from baseline levels. This is contributed to by it being believed to be aligned with what viewers expected to see from Amsterdam (61%) and reinforcing the already strong perceptions of the city as a place for authenticity, diversity and culture.

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OPINIUM BV Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 162 1012 SJ, Amsterdam europe@opinium.com www.opinium.com

Perceptions of Amsterdam - Advert Shift UK Males 18 to 35 - Strongly or Somewhat Agree 74% 74%

Is a city where people can be their authentic self Is a city for party-goers

68% 73%

Is welcoming of tourists

74% 71%

Is a diverse city

74% 70% 76%

Is a city for art, history and culture enthusiasts

69% 63% 63%

Is a city where “anything goes”

Is a city for those with an innovative mindset

67% 63%

Is a city for respectful tourists

67% 63%

Advert

Control

Note: no significant differences between Control and Advert were found. The advert also does not impact negative perceptions of the city as a place where anything goes and for party-goers. This suggests that shifting these well-established stereotypes of the city will require: •

repeated effort to shift, rather than just one campaign; and/or,

•

optimised creative that better addresses these negative perceptions.

“Renew Your View” also does not deter young UK males from visiting Amsterdam About 1 in 4 that were shown the advert had strong intent to visit Amsterdam within the next two years, a similar level to the control group.

Intent to Visit Amsterdam (Next Two Years) - Advert Shift UK Males 18 to 35 - Strong Intent (8 to 10)

28%

27%

Control

Advert

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OPINIUM BV Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 162 1012 SJ, Amsterdam europe@opinium.com www.opinium.com

However, it does reduce interest to visit for the nuisance ridden stag party Importantly, the advert does influence the reasons that young UK males wanted to visit: •

It decreased interest to visit Amsterdam for stag/hen parties by half

•

It increased interest in visiting historical sites and museums

Reasons for Visiting Amsterdam - Advert Shift UK Males 18 to 35 with strong or moderate intent to visit

41%

To visit historical sites

52% 36%

To visit museums

To hold a stag/hens party

49% 19% 10%

Control

Advert

Note: All differences between Control and Advert shown were statistically significant.

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OPINIUM BV Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 162 1012 SJ, Amsterdam europe@opinium.com www.opinium.com

About Opinium OPINIUM is an award winning strategic insight agency built on the belief that in a world of uncertainty and complexity, success depends on the ability to stay on pulse of what people think, feel and do. Creative and inquisitive, we are passionate about empowering our clients to make the decisions that matter. We work with organisations to define and overcome strategic challenges – helping them to get to grips with the world in which their brands operate. We use the right approach and methodology to deliver robust insights, strategic counsel and targeted recommendations that generate change and positive outcomes.

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Opinium Research is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Under these rules we are required, when requested, to make information available from survey results that have entered the public domain. These include, but are not limited to, the name of commissioning client, fieldwork dates, methodology, size and composition of sample, and data tables NL00134 | Opinium | Amsterdam “Renew Your View” Ad Test | 7 showing the text of the questions asked, the order in which they were asked and the answers given to them.